Advent Rising

"Average at best."

I figured that I should give this game a shot. I mean it seems a lot of people were talking good about it and a lot more talking like it's the best game out there. I haven't really followed this game in its prerelease, but after looking at some screenshots, and a few reviews, I decided that I would give this game a shot. What I got was an average game. It was good, but it was average at best. It has a familiar storyline, fast-pace battling, and some pretty decent graphic system.

The basic story is like any other game out there: an alien race that is bent on removing the human species and dominating the universe for their own. Sound familiar? Well, unless you were stuck in a cave somewhere for the past 30 years, I don't think this story is anything surprising or shocking. The entire game somewhat expands this storyline and then twist some of it, but nothing really spectacular or life changing. The one thing that I find fascinating is the fact that some parts offer multiple endings. For example, in the beginning, you will fight against a fellow Marine in which you can end by either stunning him or killing him. If you decide to kill him, a scene will follow where his friends will be angry with you, and if you decide to stun him, then a scene will follow where his friends apologize to you about it. Other than that, the story is fairly basic with nothing really unique about it that separates it from another similar game.

Aside from the mediocre story, the graphics is somewhat nicer. When you first start playing this game, you are into a very breathtaking introduction. You are flying in a spaceship, heading to a space station next to a beautifully rendered planet, and right next to you is a giant alien space ship that looks truly awesome. This part is really great and I truly felt that I was going to get a very good game, however, it wasn't exactly so. When you first land and control your main character, you will probably think there is something wrong with your screen. First off, the upper portion (waist and above) of the characters is very beautifully rendered and looks nice. However, the legs are absolutely out-of-proportion to the rest of the body and it makes the more serious parts of the game seem silly. Aside from this minor flaw, the graphics are a bit laboring to the xbox system. The first thing you will notice is that there is considerable lag when viewing certain areas. For example, at the beginning, you will go through a hallway that has a lot of people and a glass window that will cause lags until you walk out of the room. The lags are not so bad during battles, but in some cases it could cause you to die or suddenly end up in another part of the room.

The game play is rather nice. You get a lot of guns and weapons that ranges from simple pistols, rocket launchers to exotic alien weapons. Although nothing new, the action is rather fast and easy for anyone to get used to. I must say that this is probably nice for the game and I rather enjoy the fast action. However, it comes with a toll. As you already read about, the lags in certain places can cause you to die, but there is another problem that might affect your fun. During game play, you might experience occasional lockups and crashes. I notice that lockups and crashes occur right before or right after a cutscene. Not that big of a deal since the game automatically saves your progress as you play, there is no way of saving in this game, but it can be annoying and hinder your progress.

Aside from the many flaws in the game, I must say that the game is rather good. I wouldn't call it game of the year, but I would say that the game is in my collection of “good” games. There is nothing really wrong with this game other than a mediocre story and a somewhat buggy application. When you are done with this game you will find that it was good and you might want to replay it, although I doubt it.

Overall, I would recommend this game to someone who is patience and appreciative of the many problems of this game. Sure it has its problems, but nothing too big and if you look past it, you would see an average game that you can enjoy while you take a break from the more fancy games in your collection.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/09/05